In e-commerce, there is no direct personal contact between supplier and customer 1 Barth, Klaus; Hartmann, Michaela; Schröder, Hendrik (2007):Betriebswirtschaftslehre des Handels. 6. Aufl. Wiesbaden 2007 . This is therefore a matter of establishing contact based on the principle of distance.

This results in the following differences for B2C e-commerce compared to business types with contact design based on the residence, domicile or meeting principle:

– The buyer cannot inspect the goods before purchasing them . Trust in the online retailer has a positive effect on the intention to buy products online2 Ahlert, Dieter; Heidebur, S.; Michaelis, Michael (2007): KaufverhaltensrelevanteEffekte des Konsumentenvertrauens im Internet: Eine vergleichende Analyse vonOnline-Händlern. Münster 2007. . Consumers often limit themselves to the product range of their preferred supplier (“cognitive lock-in”). Product selection is also made habitually, mainly based on the familiar brand 3 Fritz, Wolfgang (2005): Tendenzen im Internet-Marketing 1995 - 2005. Braunschweig2005..

– Physical location plays no role in the contact. In contrast, the company's "virtual location" is an important factor for market development. This refers to the position of the company's website relative to frequently visited services on the Internet, such as its position in Google search results or in news portals; the easier the website is for Internet users to find, the more it will be visited4 Häring, Julia (2005): The Virtual Location of E-Tailers: Evidence from a B2C ECommerce Market. Mannheim 2005. .

– The restriction on sales area is lifted ; However, distribution via the Internet places particular demands on overcoming geographical barriers in distribution and retrodistribution. Therefore, products that are easy to transport or can be transmitted directly via the Internet are particularly suitable for this type of business 1 Barth, Klaus; Hartmann, Michaela; Schröder, Hendrik (2007):Betriebswirtschaftslehre des Handels. 6. Aufl. Wiesbaden 2007 .

– every transaction provides personal data ; For example, purchased and viewed products, entered search terms, clicks, and other inputs from each individual visitor can be stored and compiled into an individual customer profile 6 Vossen, Gottfried; Hagemann, Stephan (2007): From Version 1.0 to Version 2.0: Abrief history of the web. Münster 2007. . Furthermore, the data obtained can be effectively used to estimate demand and to inform pricing decisions 7 Guo, Liang (2009): The benefits of downstream information acquisition. In: Marketingscience : the marketing journal of TIMS/ORSA 28 (3), S. 457–471. o.O. 2009. .

For B2B e-commerce, the nature of the contact arrangement (distance selling) creates a special requirement for the effectiveness of automated communication 8 Gómez-Pérez, Asunción; Fernández-López, Mariano; Corcho, Oscar (2004):Ontological engineering. With examples from the areas of knowledge management, ecommerce and the Semantic Web. London, New York 2004. . Since e-commerce involves distance selling, special legal instructions and obligations in electronic commerce, e.g. regarding the right of withdrawal, etc., must be observed.9 Wien, Andreas (2009): Internetrecht. Eine praxisorientierte Einführung. 2. Aufl.Wiesbaden 2009. .